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Artist or Maker: Harriet Whitney Frishmuth (1880-1980)
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Provenance: Mary K. Friedlander, Cincinnati, Ohio.
By bequest to the present owner from the above, circa 1994.
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Literature: C.N. Aronson, Sculptured Hyacinths, New York, 1973, pp. 26, 107-9, another example illustrated.
J. Conner and J. Rosenkranz, Rediscoveries in American Sculpture: Studio Works 1893-1939, Austin, Texas, 1989, pp. 37-8, 40-2, 191, another example illustrated.
T. Tolles, ed., American Sculpture in the Metropolitan Museum of Art: A Catalogue of Works by Artists Born between 1865 and 1885, vol. II, New York, 2001, p. 640.
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Notes: Harriet Whitney Frishmuth is renowned for her fountain sculptures depicting young women, of which Joy of the Waters is one of the best known. The design was modeled lifesize in 1917. In 1920, Frishmuth reduced the design to a 45-inch size, an example of which was her diploma piece in 1929 when she was elected to full membership to the National Academy of Design.
Frishmuth originally used her famed model, dancer Desha Delteil, as the inspiration for 'Joy of the Waters'. "Frishmuth first hired her in 1916 to pose during classes she taught in her studio, and by the end of the decade Desha began modeling for Frishmuth's own work. The sculptor was captivated by the dancer's lithe, perfectly proportioned body and her extraordinary ability to assume interesting poses and to duplicate them upon request. 'Most of my figures express motion,' Frishmuth once said, 'and this girl is wonderful. She can do anything I tell her. Some of the poses can only be held a moment but she can reproduce them exactly.'" (J. Conner and J. Rosenkranz, Rediscoveries in American Sculpture: Studio Works 1893-1939, Austin, Texas, 1989, p. 38)
'Joy of the Waters' was conceived, "When Frismuth asked [Desha] to respond as if her feet were suddenly splashed by cold water, Desha invented the pose...an effervescent fountain figure." (Rediscoveries in American Sculpture: Studio Works 1893-1939, p. 38) Although Frishmuth originally used Desha as the inspiration for 'Joy of the Waters', Janette Ransome was the final model for this larger version first cast in 1920. The present work is from an edition of 65.
This design will be included in the forthcoming catalogue raisonné of the works of Harriet Whitney Frishmuth.
